Are you currently in default on your mortgage or have you been sued for foreclosure? Is your Homeowners Association or Condominium Association foreclosing, fining, or suing you?

An Attorney can help protect your rights.

As a homeowner may have other defenses to assert against the bank, Homeowners Association or Condominium Association to prevent foreclosure and defend your lawsuit. To ensure that all of your defenses and claims are presented properly and in a timely manner it is important to have an attorney working for you in preparing and presenting your case.

If your condominium association alleges that you are in violation of the Declaration of Condominium or the Rules and Regulations governing the community they can fine you or they can file a petition for arbitration with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR). The division of the DBPR that handles these matters is the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares, and Mobile Homes. The Division will provide an Arbitrator to hear your case. The Arbitrator works with the Division and hears condominium enforcement cases on a regular basis. Continue reading “Arbitration of Condominium Disputes”→

Mediation is a valuable opportunity for parties to a dispute to resolve their conflict on their own terms. The parties have maximum input into a settlement reached in mediation.

Francis M. King, Esq

Once the matter is in Court the judge will decide what the resolution is with little to no input from either party. It is therefore important to take advantage of the opportunity mediation provides.

A significant factor in whether mediation is successful is the party’s preparation for the mediation conference. The parties should fully understand their position, and what they want to achieve at mediation. They should also make every effort to know and understand the opposing party’s position. However, knowing what you want should not become an unwillingness to compromise. All parties will give on some points and succeed on others, but the goal is to reach an overall compromise that all parties accept. Continue reading “Understanding Mediation of Legal Disputes”→

Your condominium or homeowner’s association is empowered by the Condominium Act and the Homeowners Association Act respectively to levy fines against owners for the owner or occupant’s failure to comply with the Declaration of Condominium, Deed Restrictions, By-laws, or reasonable rules and regulations of the Association.

If the Board of Directors or the management company for your Homeowners’ Association believes you have violated the governing documents of your community, which includes the deed restrictions, by-laws, or rule and regulations of your community, they can either fine you or proceed with legal action to enforce your compliance.

As a resident of a Homeowners Association or Condominium Association you are obligated to pay assessments and to comply with the rules laid out in the deed restrictions, declaration of condominium, rules and regulations, and by-laws. If the Board of Directors of your association thinks you are in violation of these rules they have several avenues available to them to enforce the documents against you. Continue reading “Homeowners Association and Condominium Association Disputes”→

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own more than half of the mortgages in the United States. This has lead many people to push for these two government controlled entities to offer principal write downs like the banks that were part of the National Mortgage Settlement.

Ed DeMarco, the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and overseer of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has resisted principal write downs as not in the best interest of taxpayers. Members of Congress disagree.

Representative Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who supported Fannie Mae almost to its collapse, has called for Mr. DeMarco’s resignation because he is “too rigid” on the issue. Representative Elijah E. Cummings, a Maryland Democrat and ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, told a field hearing in Brooklyn last week that Mr. DeMarco “may be the biggest hurdle standing between our nation and the recovery of our housing market.”

The title of the article refers to the following explanation of how the requested principal reductions by Fannie and Freddie would constitute and bailout for private banks. Many banks hold second liens on the same properties for which Fannie and Freddie either own the first mortgage or have guaranteed. If principal amounts on these first mortgages are reduced while leaving the second liens intact, those seconds become much more likely to be paid off over time. With no principal reduction, the banks would have to write off many of those second liens.

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Mediation Services

Francis M. King is a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator. He is available to serve as a mediator, and offers his services as representation to parties in mediation and other alternative dispute resolution proceedings.

Contact Information:

About: Francis M. King, Esq.

Francis M. King is an attorney in the Tampa Bay Area, and has practiced in this area for 14 years. His practice focuses on the representation of homeowners who have been sued for residential mortgage foreclosure, or who have been sued by their Homeowners Association or Condominium Association.

In the past Mr. King has represented large lending institutions in the collection of consumer debts, and has represented community associations in the foreclosure of liens and collection of past due assessments.

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